United States CDC says over 700 cases of monkeypox worldwide

The United State’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention announced yesterday that it knew of over 700 cases of monkeypox worldwide. The CDC said there were 21 cases in the US. Today the number of cases, worldwide has reached nearly 900.

Although 14 of the cases in the US are thought to be travel-linked, CDC officials say that at least one case is not. A director at the CDC, Jennifer McQuiston, told reporters…

“We also have at least one case in the United States that does not have a travel link or know how they acquired their infection.”

So far, none of the monkeypox cases in the US have been fatal, and all patients are in recovery or have recovered. But the cause of the monkeypox outbreak continues to be vexatious. Last week, the World Health Organisation stressed that the virus is “not a gay disease“, even though it said the current outbreaks of monkeypox were “primarily spreading through sex among men”.

The world accumulative monkeypox infection total has now reached 899, according to the latest stats from our-world-in-data…

WEBSITE: ourworldindata.org/monkeypox

The CDC reported that of the 21 cases in the US, the first 17 cases were among people who identify as men who have sex with men. Still, monkeypox is not usually considered a sexually transmitted disease (although it be spread with close person-to-person contact, sexually or otherwise). The main risk factor is close skin-to-skin contact with someone who has monkey pox sores. A person with monkeypox is contagious until all the sores have scabbed and new skin is formed.

There have been five outbreaks of monkeypox since the turn of the century outside some central and west African countries where it is considered endemic in some areas. One strain of monkeypox, the Congo Basin clade, has a 10.6% fatality rate. The current strain spreading outside of central Africa has a much lower fatality rate.

In Thailand, one official warned this week that the upcoming Pride parade tomorrow (Sunday) could be a breeding ground for monkeypox. Jakkaphat Pittayawongarnon, the Director-General of the Division of Epidemiology, said that even though monkeypox is not an STD, it can be transmitted through intimate contact with infected persons. Thai social media has condemned his ridiculous correlation, despite there being no cases currently detected in Thailand.

Jakkaphat said, however, that there were no confirmed cases of monkeypox in Thailand so far. Earlier this week, Thailand’s Department of Disease Control said 12 people who came into contact with a confirmed monkeypox patient passing through the transit are in Suvarnabhumi Airport earlier this week are low-risk, since they don’t have symptoms.

SOURCE: Thai PBS World | Nation Thailand